IRS Hearing: Dems Call No Liberal Groups as Witnesses

4 Jun 2013

At Monday’s Appropriations hearing on the IRS scandal, OH Democrat Rep. Marcy Kaptur grilled Inspector General George about whether liberal groups were also singled out for special scrutiny. She inferred, because a large number of groups didn’t have “tea party,” “patriot” or “9/12” in their name, that many liberal and progressive groups were also likely targeted. Okay, so where are they at Tuesday’s Ways and Means hearing with victims?

The minority party has the power to call witnesses at all committee hearings. The majority party generally gets to call more witnesses and schedule in what order they testify, but the minority still has the right to bring forward witnesses. If liberal groups were targeted by the IRS, wouldn’t Tuesday’s hearing be a perfect opportunity to tell their stories? The media would embrace the opportunity to complicate the hitherto simple narrative of the IRS scandal.

So, why no testimony from liberal victims of the IRS? There aren’t any.

Its been almost a month since news of the IRS targeting broke. That is more than sufficient time for a liberal group to come forward and say, “you know what, the same thing happened to us.” The left has every incentive to identify such victims, as it would shift the focus away from the political motivations behind the targeting.

Instead, Democrats like Kaptur infer and imply. What they can’t do is produce an actual victim. Tuesday’s hearing confirms that only conservatives were targeted.